Comments on: Middle East mobs freaking the hell out over YouTube videohttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html
Brain candy for Happy MutantsMon, 15 Sep 2014 23:11:17 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2By: Antinous / Moderatorhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1534532
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 04:08:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1534532No, I’m saying that Denmark, via NATO, has occupying troops in Muslim countries, so it’s not particularly surprising that some people consider any NATO member state to be a hostile political entity.
]]>By: Jen Onymoushttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1534470
Tue, 18 Sep 2012 03:07:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1534470So you’re saying that the Danish cartoon riots and death threats are somehow OK? Do you think that the flag-burning fanatics are even aware that Denmark is a NATO state?
]]>By: BarelyFitzhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1534204
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:40:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1534204 Considering that the USA contains about 4.5% of the world’s population, it’s unlikely that “almost all USians are in the 1%”
]]>By: Joshua Zelinskyhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1534059
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:10:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1534059I agree that one needs to be careful with an overbroad they, and essentially agree with much of the rest of your comment which does a good job of applying nuance to my possibly oversimplified remark.
]]>By: wysinwyghttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1534056
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:00:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1534056

any society can have their freedoms when they want them just by walking away from the current power structures.

Assuming “current power structures” have nothing to do with provision of food and shelter, and additionally are not in possession of guns and other military hardware.

]]>By: wysinwyghttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1534050
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:46:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1534050Using an unqualified “They” might be going a little overboard. I haven’t seen any estimates of how big these riots actually are and I’ve seen lots of photos of people decrying terrorism and violence in response to this whole mess.

To some extent, “they hate our freedoms” does express the views of the Muslim Brotherhood who are in no small part motivated by their rejection of what they see as Western hedonism and depravity. However, the MB was widely repudiated when they attempted to take over governments democratically in the 80’s and 90’s. Then they tried to start a violent revolution and again alienated pretty much everyone in the Muslim world. Then we invaded Iraq and the MB started to regain some popularity.

It’s almost as if perceptions of the West are colored by the actions of western governments in the Muslim world.

]]>By: RedShirt77http://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1534044
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:33:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1534044These folks could really use some grassroots organizations that aren’t radical Muslims. 100 years of murder of oppression, hundreds of thousands of deaths in the last decades and it just sounds like they hate freedom.
]]>By: wysinwyghttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1534043
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:32:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1534043It’s fairly well established that the diplomats were killed as part of a planned militant operation and used the rioters as cover. Can we please stop spreading this stupid myth that the diplomats were killed over the film?
]]>By: wysinwyghttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1534036
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:21:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1534036Worldwide, I’m pretty sure almost all USians are in the 1%.
]]>By: Ito Kagehisahttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1534018
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:54:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1534018I agree, but I wouldn’t have bothered with the word “religious” in there myself.
]]>By: Antinous / Moderatorhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533472
Sun, 16 Sep 2012 01:08:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533472I like to refer to it as ‘tossing the occasional fact into the rhetoric’.
]]>By: Origami_Isopodhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533421
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 23:15:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533421“Politically incorrect” = “I am a brave truth teller for upholding the status quo and I want me some cookies.”
]]>By: SDurninhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533396
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 22:26:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533396You seem to be bending over backwards to be politically correct.
]]>By: Michael Smithhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533382
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 22:09:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533382Sure but I was more suggesting that any society can have their freedoms when they want them just by walking away from the current power structures. But to do that they need to be able to trust each other enough to know that the next person to take control won’t institute a dictatorship again.
]]>By: Sebastian Spinczykhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533329
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 21:00:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533329 Forgive my nitpicking, but: Muslims, Christians, Jews, (and everyone else) ARE primates. As are (other) apes, monkeys and lemurs ;)
]]>By: Navin_Johnsonhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533213
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 17:57:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533213lol. More like the opposite.
]]>By: Navin_Johnsonhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533212
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 17:55:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533212@boingboing-f43bc9f9775ade3e3c6734d457f30767:disqus ,

? Russia has no similar colonial history in this part of the World. Why would you expect them to be mad at Russia? They’ve had their own issues in the Caucasus.

]]>By: Navin_Johnsonhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533199
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 17:40:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533199And they’ve been killing each other off by the million for a lot longer than that.

Almost all our infamous modern conflicts in this part of the world can be traced back to Western colonialism (French in Syria’s case), divide and rule, and how these former Ottoman provinces were carved up into little countries without regard to the inhabitants interests, tribes etc., but with concern for Western interests after WWI.

]]>By: Lemoutanhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533190
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 17:23:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533190Blimey mate. All I did was post a pic of a news item from 1914, supporting your final remark about the fraughtness of the Balkans, and all Hell breaks loose.

You’re not Balkanian are you?

]]>By: Navin_Johnsonhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533185
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 17:15:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533185Next you’re going to tell me that there are actually congressmen and women, and a sizable portion of Americans that believe our President is a Muslim born in Kenya….
]]>By: Navin_Johnsonhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533183
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 17:13:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533183To be fair, car chases and shoot outs have been a pretty common thing in my Chicago neighborhood’s past….
]]>By: zartan74http://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533158
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 16:19:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533158This is a very insightful comment, thank you.
]]>By: OoerictoOhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533151
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 15:58:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533151@Diogenes:disqus i’m sure you are right on the world-wide 1%.
i was replying to the phrase “we are Smaug” which would imply we’re pissed when someone steals something we knew we had but didn’t ever use or really want because we’re so rich.
but from their point of view, i guess we are…
]]>By: Diogeneshttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533147
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 15:44:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533147Do you buy products made from, or powered by, Mideast oil? It’s not just the 1% who have benefited from our exploitation of their natural resources. Nearly all of us do in one way or another. And if you meant money, then on a worldwide scale, I suspect we’re both in the 1%.
]]>By: KWilletshttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533144
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 15:37:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533144I interpret it to mean they’re angry about people over-interpreting what they’re angry about.
]]>By: Wreckrob8http://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533141
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 15:31:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533141Freedom ultimately implies responsibility for oneself and no possibility of blaming others. Isn’t this also at the heart of all major world religions?
If God is the blame-free individual we invent as our support and example, individual belief in God might be irrelevant. No society could be ready yet to discard its belief in God. The believers could just be right (for all the wrong reasons).
]]>By: OoerictoOhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533140
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 15:25:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533140 we? are you in the 1%?

kinda like how so many people in the west don’t understand how people are so angry at the west for this video

we all need to try as best we can to understand the perspectives of others, while not tolerating/forgiving violence.

]]>By: OoerictoOhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533136
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 15:16:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533136i thought we were talking about the protestors, not >50% of americans
]]>By: OoerictoOhttp://boingboing.net/2012/09/14/middle-east-mobs-freaking-the.html#comment-1533135
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 15:15:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=181094#comment-1533135 they appear to be trying to “get their act into gear” see: #arabspring, etc. your statement could be taken as a bit callous considering we in the west have no real idea what they have been through and the courage it took as a people to come as far as they have.
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